A grief-stricken Dutch dad who lost his only child on the doomed MH17 flight has met with grieving Barry Sweeney.

Hans De Borst - whose 17-year-old daughter Elsemiek was killed alongside her mother, step-brother and step-father in the air disaster - was on Tyneside to show support to the 52-year-old.

Hans, of Holland, travelled to the region to watch Newcastle United take on Manchester United before meeting Barry, who lost son Liam on the flight in July.

And as supporters applauded on the 17th minute in tribute to fans Liam and John Alder, Mr De Borst said he felt they had paid tribute to his daughter.

The 52-year-old said: “The atmosphere at the game was great and fans obviously clapped on the 17th minute, which was really nice. It was like they were clapping for my daughter too, which gave me goosebumps.

“It was very good to hear that they do it at every home game too.”

The meeting came as other relatives visited a Dutch air base to view the wreckage of the plane.

For almost all of them, it was the first chance to see the twisted and charred wreckage that lay for months in the battlefields of eastern Ukraine after the plane plunged to the ground on July 17.

All 298 passengers and crew on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed.

Barry Sweeney meets Hans De Borst, father of Elsemiek who was killed on flight MH17

The wreckage was brought back to the Netherlands, where civil and criminal investigations are under way to establish the cause of the disaster and attempt to prosecute those responsible.

The wreckage, spread across three hangars, included wings, wheels, parts of the fuselage and overhead luggage bins. Some of it was scorched black by fire, while some pieces of the plane’s thin metal body were scratched, twisted and torn.

Experts will soon begin piecing together parts of the plane to help investigators assess the damage and definitively establish the cause, said Sara Vernooij, a spokeswoman for the Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the civilian probe.

The board’s chairman, Tjibbe Joustra, said the final report was likely to be published in October.

Barry Sweeney and wife Lesley meets Hans De Borst, father of Elsemiek who was killed on flight MH17

And Mr De Borst said he needed answers.

“I want to know everything and every detail as to what happened but I don’t think we’re going to find out who did it,” he said.

“The Government need to do everything possible to find some answers.

“I know I will never get back my daughter and I know I will never get to see her alive again but we need to investigate it and find out everything we can.”

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Mr De Borst said that despite finding some comfort in his meeting with Barry, he wishes their two paths hadn’t needed to cross.

He added: “It helps a lot to talk about it with people going through the same situation because it’s an unbelievable situation.

“It helps talking to Barry but at the same time I’d rather not have met him.

“If our children hadn’t have been killed our paths wouldn’t have crossed.”